Serenity
by Chirinah
Summary: DISCONTINUED. Their lives never end well, why do they still try? Tsuna is Giotto, Giotto is Tsuna, except Giotto is a girl and Tsuna is, what? And why was Hibari looking at him like that? 400 years ago, Giotto and his guardians fled to Japan. 400 years into the future, they meet again, except nothing is the same.
1. Prologue

**On trial. I want to know what you think of this plot. Giotto was a girl who pretended to be a man for some reason and Tsuna was her reincarnation. Alaude x Giotto and 1827. I'm not sure if I'll be continuing this, and I have a plot in mind, but it's not really concrete, so I want to know how you feel.**

Their lives never end well.

One was like the sky on a bright summer day. Clear and warm and all-encompassing, with passing clouds and cool, soft breeze. The other was like a drifting cloud, bound by no one and impossible to catch, but always in the presence of the sky, protecting him from harm.

They work so well together. In this life, and the next.

But their lives never end well.

 _Haven't we lost enough?_

Even in the summer, darkness will come.

Prologue:

Cowardice

The girl lived in a dark world where one had to kill to survive. Steal from vendors and run for her life, because her friend needed food. She needed food, and no one was willing to give them any. Drunkard's walk the streets day and night, and men with guns and sword try to kill each other every other day, and she had to think well in order to learn how to avoid them, and keep herself, and her friend safe.

The boy lived a couple hundred miles away, in another country where war was going on in every corner, and dead bodies lay scorched and bloody wherever he turned. Bombs exploded at every turn, and the boy had to run mindlessly, away, far, far away while stabbing everything in his wake to survive.

There was no reason to live, but they try to anyway.

A large passenger ship arrived at dawn at the port of Toyohashi, in a country called Japan. From inside, a beautiful lady with short blond hair that seemed to stick up in all directions and eyes the lighter shade of orange she stepped off, garnering the attention of every pair of eyes within a hundred meter vicinity attention. Beside her stood a tall imposing man with platinum blond hair, stylized peculiarly, his bangs forming an 'M' over his forehead, his eyes a sharp, steel gray that seemed to glare at everyone around him, though he was particularly focusing on the men that was looking over the woman.

After them, four more people walked down, each with a slightly different demeanor from the other, but with the same type of confidence that could only come with power.

One had bright cherry-colored hair and red tattoo on the side of his face, scowling darkly while seemingly muttering something none of the locals understood. Beside him, a man wearing blue and white nobleman's robes and a tall hat laughed, saying in fluent Japanese, "All ports smell like fish, G."

The redhead, G., scowled some more and huffed in response, speaking in halting Japanese, "Shut up, flute freak. No one asked for your opinion."

The other man simply laughed.

A lazy looking young man with green hair sneered at the two, before passing them and falling in step beside the blond pair. A dark-haired man wearing black, golden trimmed priest robes and a red scarf with a white bandage over his nose followed suit.

"So, where are we going now, Primo?" said the green-haired man to the only woman in the group.

The one who answered was the man beside her, "We already purchased a house somewhere in the city. Our ride should be here soon. Make yourself useful and scout the area for possible enemies. Also, how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling her Primo before it gets inside your thick skull, Lampo?"

Lampo, much like G., scowled and huffed before proceeding to do just as he was told, not nearly brave enough to incur the other man's wrath.

The woman smiled sweetly at the two men. "Alaude, please don't be too mean to Lampo," she said, which the blond man pointedly ignored.

The dark-haired priest grinned at them brightly, obnoxiously putting an arm over Alaude's shoulder, much to his trepidation, saying, "Oh, please don't say that Serenita. The day Alaude stops being mean might as well be the end of the world, and we don't want to die just yet."

His last words brought a sad tinge to the woman's flowery smile. _We don't want to die just yet._

Yes, they didn't. And wasn't that the reason they were in this strange and foreign country, hiding away and leaving everything from their names to their belongings behind?

"I suppose so," she agreed. Maybe they were cowards, running away to several seas away from an enemy they didn't, couldn't defeat, keeping their lives but leaving everything they valued, even their friends…

But, what was there left to do?

A warm hand grabbed her own, making the woman startle, but she didn't shy away. Instead, she squeezed his hand, and smiled, making it known that while she truly despised herself, at the moment, she was happy because he was by her side.

In the back of their minds, they knew the end of this selfishness would only bring forth more pain, but _haven't they lost enough?_

Didn't they deserve this break, at least?

Four hundred years into the future, the woman, now in the body of a young boy, would be looking back at this day and still wonder if she made the right choice.

He would smile sadly, the same way she did, looking at the image of a black-haired boy glaring at everything, the dead men at his feet, the scorched trees, and at him, and he-she-would wonder if this was worth it.

Their lives never end well.

Why do they still try living?

Every time the First Generation Guardians of Vongola came up in a conversation, they were always painted as strong, benevolent, colorful albeit eccentric. Tsuna and his own Guardians were said to be awfully alike to them, from their physical appearance to their very nature and strength.

The Second Coming of The First Generation, they were called.

It wasn't much of a stretch, considering all they did once officially inheriting the positions was revive the sleeping vigilantism within the hearts of these fearsome Mafioso, which was often easily accomplished with just a smile from the benevolent Vongola Decimo, who looked so much like a girl for his own good.

Tsuna actually admired Primo a lot, having met him quite a few times during the Inheritance Trial and his battle with Byakuran. He had felt warm, like a mother's touch, or a familiar blue sky, which stood over him in protection against the harshness of the world. And he just seemed so strong, so sure of himself, so full of resolve, unlike Tsuna who had to be put in near-death situations just so he could grow a spine and fight for himself.

In Tsuna's mind, Primo was perfect.

And Primo was a man.

So, what was he seeing?

"Does this mean Tsuna's a descendant of both Primo and Alaude?"

What was wrong with the world?


	2. Hyper Intuition

**Here is the first chapter. I kinda have the plot now, still working on the details. In the first few chapters, I'll be working on setting the stage for our actors to stand in, but they're all relevant to the plot. I think. I just hope I don't lose inspiration too much.**

 **Anyway, this is after canon events, and slightly AU. At first their relationship would be like** canon, **since I don't want it to sound too forced. 1827 wouldn't be coming out of thin air, hopefully. Characters may be OOC.**

 **Tell me what you** think **please. I'd love to hear from you.**

* * *

 _In another world, he still remains a cruel man._

 _But for all his cruelty, he can never harm the one person who has the power to truly hurt him, and has done so quite a lot of times._

 _This makes him wonder if he's only a foolish man, after all. A cruel, foolish man._

 _The most dangerous combination._

* * *

Hyper Intuition

Tsuna trusted his intuition. It had been his greatest gift, and greatest burden. There was something rather disconcerting with the way it simply told him things; when people lied to him, when he was in danger, when to dodge during battle, etc. It made things easy, surely, but it also made things rather weird and complicated and unnatural and just, _scary_.

As he lived the first thirteen years of his life being utterly useless, it was hard to adjust to being practically a supernatural being.

That said, with all the weird and supernatural things that surrounded him— _dying will flames, time travel devices, the tri-ni-sette, rings that made his ancestor appear like a freaking hologram out of thin air, and_ Byakuran, that marshmallow freak—him being some sort of lie detector and danger sensor was simply an icing on the cake, truly.

Still, it bothered him, just like everything else bothered him.

(Byakuran, most of all, but that's just because he's annoying.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, that's mean!"

"…")

True, there was some (okay, a lot) merits to having this so-called Hyper Intuition, the first being it always ended up saving his life one way or another, _and who doesn't like that?_ Not to mention it helped him understand the people around him, his family and strangers alike, and made him a far more efficient leader than he could ever hope to be back in his _dame_ days.

("You're still a Dame. For as long as I'm alive, you'll remain a Dame, Dame-Tsuna," said one grinning home-tutor holding a painful-looking green mallet.

Boong.

"I-ite! What was that for?"

"I was bored.")

He didn't like it at first, in fact, he detested it, considering it was the reason—aside from his sky flames—that he was the heir to the most dangerous and scary mafia famiglia ever, which turned his world upside down and flipped his whole life inside out. But he had come to accept it, because despite all the pains he had been through with Reborn and all the psychopathic and megalomaniac people that seemed to crowd in his house quite often, the gains he had because of it far outnumber the losses.

He'd never regret meeting his friends ever. Even though most of them had tried to kill him at first. (And still trying, for about half of them.)

He had come to trust his intuition completely, partly because of gratefulness and partly because Reborn told him to. (And, you know, no one defies Reborn.) And his family had come to trust him unconditionally because of it too. It's scary how they're always willing to risk their lives for his plans that had no concrete proofs and basis and a decent success rate, but it warmed his heart all the same.

And made things easy.

The day after Tsuna's eighteenth birthday, he woke up with a huge headache. Fortunately, it was Saturday, so he didn't have to go to school, but there was still Reborn who made it worse by pounding his head with his trusty one-ton mallet. Yesterday had been one heck of a birthday party, since almost everyone he knew was around in his house, having ridiculous contests concocted by Reborn.

He had nearly died around seventy-two times in the span of eight hours, and that wasn't counting the near misses from the flying deadly projectiles that came out of nowhere, and also the near-hits from parts of the house crumbling down. But that wasn't the point.

The point was Reborn, Iemitsu and Xanxus (Xanxus!) had forced him to down about a sea of liquor, because _he was finally a man_!

And now, he had a hangover. And a missing roof, apparently.

Tsuna walked lifelessly to the bathroom, tripping a hundred times along the way, and puked his guts out for what seemed like hours. Reborn, sadistic tutor that he was, forced him under the shower—with clothes on—when he looked like he was to pass out beside his dinner last night, along with bits of his lunch.

It was gross. And smelly. Tsuna thanked God he was too out of it to notice, but he wasn't for long. The shock of being thrown under ice-cold water woke him up, and cleared his hangover rather well.

He still had a headache though. Which got worse the moment he stepped out.

His house was trashed. Absurdly so.

As he noticed earlier, their roof was gone, disintegrated, most likely from either Xanxus, Byakuran or Mukuro's attacks. Maybe all of them. But it wasn't only that. The walls had holes in them, large ones, some suspiciously human looking, and some he was sure was human-looking. The little trinkets and furniture didn't escape either. Their television set was in tatters, alongside the living room couch, which was sliced into pieces by either Squalo, Yamamoto or Belphegor. Probably all of them. There was also some nasty, uh, _things_ splattered on the floor, which he was sure came from Mukuro and Fran's real illusions.

Liquor bottles were littered everywhere, and about half of the house was scorched from bombs and grenades and flames, which said a lot about the overall destructive power of his Family, considering their house was made with top-notch material that was supposed to be flame-proof, bomb-proof, and other-things-proof, and was _supposed_ to be able to survive a nuclear bomb twice.

Tsuna sighed. He was feeling faint yet again.

Luckily, his mom and the kids weren't there. They were enjoying the high life in a fancy hotel. One of the good things that came with being the immediate family of a mafia boss, among others.

Sighing again to prevent himself from crying, Tsuna set to work. First, he looked for his phone in the ruin that was their house—took about two hours, give or take—and called for the same people who had recreated their house roughly forty-nine times now, and told them to have everything done by the end of the day.

Vongola people are magicians. They worked wonders. Despite having seen it forty-nine times, it had never ceased to amaze him how fast they worked and how the house always looked exactly the same afterwards, down to the very last trinket. It only took a few hours to recreate a whole house, and they even had upgrades! Not that any of it ever worked when those people came inside, but you get the point. They're amazing.

Anyway, now that he had that aside, he called a few more people and started to run around town, with a few hundred bullets running past him for good measure, and made his way towards the Namimori Forest where one of the entrances to their newly built underground base was. His head was tingling, but he passed it off as some vestiges of hangover. That was a stupid thing to do, but no one ever said Tsuna was smart.

Once inside, Tsuna went directly down the elevator to the sixth underground floor, where his office and the control room was. He passed through the control room and said 'hi' to Giannini who had, thankfully, been rather less of a liability the past few years and to Spanner who only nodded at him once before continuing whatever he was doing. Spanner had been a permanent Vongola member for years, along with Shoichi, and was part of the reason the underground base was built rather quickly—only two and a half-years. He stuck around after the Representative War, and didn't leave since then.

Once in his office, a high-security room with thirteen doors altogether, Tsuna sighed once again. His headache worsened.

Damn, paperwork.

It took Tsuna nearly the whole day to finish his required paperwork. No, actually, he wasn't finished at all, there were thousands more papers to sign, but he was getting exhausted and _damn it he was hungry._ His headache was still pounding on his head.

Passing through the Thirteen Doors of Doom, as what Gokudera had named them, Tsuna went straight to the kitchen, finding himself some left-over dishes in the fridge. He barely had one bite in when his headache came on full force, nearly knocking him over. As it was, he had managed to knock over his plate, and some of the food flew to his lap.

Tears formed in his eyes, falling freely down his cheeks as he clutched his head in an effort to ebb the pain. He was burning. His brain felt like it was being grilled on oil and his whole body felt like there were bugs crawling over them. He faintly registered someone shouting, but he couldn't hear the words. Maybe there weren't any words. But it was painful, _oh God, it was painful. Why did his heart felt like it was being carved out?_

"No. No. No! Nooooo!"

A heart-wrenching cry echoed all over the base, startling Spanner and Giannini out of their work-induced trance, and sending a tremor over half of Namimori, just as Tsuna closed his eyes and fell into oblivion.

During that time, Hibari Kyoya was napping on the roof, having the most bizarre dream he ever had.

* * *

There was blood everywhere. His clothes, his feet, his hair. All around him was littered with corpses. On his hand was a pair of handcuffs, flaming purple in the moonlight. He looked oddly calm. At peace. Like he belonged there, atop layers and layers of dead bodies and a sea of blood.

It was terrifying and oddly beautiful.

His name was Alaude.

With cold eyes, he traversed the path made by corpses, stepping over hands and feet and torsos, cruelly kicking a few heads out of the way.

He was a French officer allied with a Mafia Famiglia, Vongola, capable of destroying hordes of enemies within one night. His name, while being that of something small and harmless, was feared in many places, his justice absolute. He was a law upon himself, and no one that defied him has ever come out unscathed. Or alive, for that matter.

He was a cruel, cruel man.

Sometimes, one couldn't help but wonder if this man, so beautiful, so cruel, so heartless, was even human to begin with.

Did he feel pain? Did he have no conscience? Did he feel _anything_ at all?

As his weapons sliced on skin, as blood touched his hands and face, as life ebbed before his very eyes, _did he feel anything?_

Yes, yes he did. In fact, he was crying on the inside. There was pain, clutching his heart like a dagger being pushed forward. There was sadness, enveloping his heart like veins of ivy crushing it. There was hopelessness, because he knew that for every strike, there was one dead man to add to his list of sins, one stain to his already dark soul.

His dark soul that couldn't be cleansed, even by _her_.

His dark heart that could never ever be accepted by that angel. Still, he would send it out, to die and wither away.

Death meant there was no way back. But he would still kill a million people.

 _For you._

* * *

Tsuna woke up crying. There were tears running down his cheeks and Gokudera was having a panic attack.

"Tenth! Tenth! I'm sorry, I'm such a worthless right-hand man!" The silver-head said, kneeling down beside Tsuna's bed and banging his head loudly against the floor.

Yamamoto was trying to calm him down, but as he was visibly trembling himself, Gokudera didn't even pay attention to him.

When Tsuna opened his eyes, ten people were immediately by his side, asking him questions: "Are you alright? How are you feeling? Where are you hurt? Do you want water? Who attacked you? Why did you collapse?"

Feeling warmth spread inside him, Tsuna smiled genuinely, which served to calm them a bit. "I'm fine," he said.

Reborn came up to him, looking grim. "What happened, Dame-Tsuna?"

There was a tense silence as ten pairs of eyes stared at him, anxious for his answer.

Tsuna just stared back. "How long was I asleep?"

A shadow passed over Reborn's face. Shamal sighed, "Two weeks, Vongola. You were in coma for two weeks."

Tsuna blinked. "What?" was his only answer.

Reborn fired a blank shot, losing his patience. "Start talking Dame-Tsuna, before I put you to a _permanent_ coma."

Tsuna shivered. He knew there was no way in hell Reborn would do that. He was the Vongola Decimo after all, despite his _Dame-ness_ he was still rather important. Still, Tsuna doubt the day would come when he wasn't scared of Reborn.

And so he talked.

"Um, I don't really know. I was just trying to eat earli—ano, two weeks ago, after my birthday, since I did my paperwork for hours and forgot to eat lunch. Then, I had this really painful headache, and my body felt like it was getting eaten by bugs or something. And then nothing." He turned to Shamal, "Is there something wrong with me?"

Shamal looked at him with blank eyes. "There was nothing I could find."

Tsuna bit his lip. "So then, why?"

"I'm so sorry, Tenth!" Gokudera banged his head on the floor once again.

"Tsuna-nii, are you alright now?" Fuuta, sweet, sweet Fuuta, asked nervously, holding both Lambo and I-pin's hands.

Tsuna smiled at them, "I'm feeling fine. Just kinda disoriented. Gokudera-kun, you don't have anything to be sorry about. Please, stop hurting yourself."

Gokudera complied, but remained kneeling down the floor. Yamamoto let out an audible sigh of relief, before giving Tsuna his signature grin. "I'm glad you're alright, Tsuna. Please, don't scare us like that again."

"I'm sorry."

"Haha, I forgive you!"

"Teme! How dare you-!"

"EXTREME! SAWADA IS ALRIGHT!"

Chrome held Tsuna's hand and squeezed. "Welcome back, Boss."

And then there was chaos.

That night, after all the hype was over, and everyone was asleep, Tsuna sat on his windowsill, feeling the night air caressing his face. Reborn was leaning on the wall beside him, looking particularly menacing under the moonlight, wiping his gun with a green cloth.

After a while, he spoke. "Talk now, Tsuna."

Tsuna sighed, "I think…there's a huge trouble ahead, Reborn."

Sometimes, Tsuna really hated his Hyper Intuition.


	3. And Yet They Feel Pain

**Oya,** oya **. Here goes Chapter Two! This will be in Hibari-** kun's **point of view.** Mehehe **. I don't think I'll make this story all that** long, **though I'm still unclear on some of the details regarding the endings and stuff.**

 **Tell me what you think! Is it confusing? I'd love to hear if you find anything wrong with it.**

* * *

 _The soul recognizes no gender. It just is._

 _Their lives are in an unending cycle._

 _They meet, they fall in love, and circumstances keep them apart. And then they die, and meet again in another world, in another life._

 _Sometimes he is a girl and she is a man. Sometimes they are born brothers, or sisters, or twins, or neighbors. Oftentimes, they are in opposite sides of the world. One dark, one light._

 _Once upon a time, they were on the same side, the same world. And they were happy, even as corpses littered their wake, and everyday bullets flew their way to each of their hearts, brains, lungs._

 _This time, they're innocent children caught up in the malevolent world of Mafia._

 _The only difference is that neither of them fell in love for the other._

 ** _Yet._**

* * *

And Yet They Feel Pain

Hibari woke up from his slumber with a massive headache. His whole body was burning, in a way unlike the feeling of dying will flames. Dying will flames were hot and fiery, but they were also kind and gentle and his. His dying will flames would never hurt him.

But this time, it burned.

"Aagh," he groaned, rolling on the hard surface of Nami-chuu's roof. Hibird fluttered about around his head, chirping worriedly. Hibari tried to smile and soothe the small animal's worries, but his smile was easily replaced by a grimace—herbivorous as that was—as a huge wave of pain came from deep within his stomach down to the tips of his hair and toes.

He curled up, barely registering his own cries of agony, and the worried voice of his second-in-command who came running in the moment he heard his shouts.

And then years upon years of memories forced itself upon his mind…

 _A blonde man in a trench coat. A woman with golden hair and amber eyes. Walking side by side down a long, dark corridors, shoulders tensed._

 _The man said, "Are you sure about this, Serenita?" He looked like he had trouble breathing, nervous and scared._ Of what? Of death?

 _The woman smiled, "I'll be alright, Alaude," she said, just as they neared the end of the corridor, approaching a huge looming double doors. "It will only be an hour, I'll be back before you know it." She held his hand and squeezed, trying to assure him._

 _The man let out a sigh. He was still worried, but, "No matter what I do or say, you wouldn't change your mind, would you?"_

 _The woman gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry," and then she was gone._

"No. No, don't leave. Sere—"

 _A large, majestic hall. The blonde man—Alaude—was standing in one corner wearing a fancy suit in blue and black, holding a flute of red wine. He took a small sip, eyes unmoving from its perch on the bright, golden haired man with a cape, exchanging pleasantries with an old couple whom he knew was the host of the party, celebrating fifty years of rocky, broken marriage._

"Giotto," Hibari groaned, tears falling from unseeing eyes. Kusakabe was on the phone, calling in Reborn, who told him something similar was happening with Sawada Tsunayoshi, and that they didn't know why.

The prefect trashed on the infirmary bed, nearly falling down if not for Kusakabe, who caught him and placed him gingerly back on it.

He whispered, "Serenita" "Giotto" and "Don't go" in odd intervals, along with a scattering of "No!" as though he was seeing something so horribly painful.

And maybe he was.

 _Outside of a church, Alaude stood, his face covered in dark cloth. His eyes was dazed and pained as he watched the beautiful woman with golden hair and amber eyes walk inside, holding a bouquet of violets._

 _"_ _Faithful love," he mused, smiling bitterly. "How ironic."_

 _Standing in front of the church, waiting for the doors to open for her, the woman held tightly on the flowers, lighting up her eyes. In one split second she glanced back, holding his gaze for one painful eternity, before turning back…stepping forward to the opened doors…gliding like an angel down the aisle, tying herself to a man she barely knew, leaving him behind…_

 _"_ _Don't go," he whispered, but only the wind heard his call._

Hibari's heart felt like it was being split open, cut into a million pieces using a rusted knife, sawing through the organ, mincing the arteries…

It was pain worse than Mukuro's trident, or Genkishi's sword. It was even worse than Jager, that undead bastard's attack. That time, during the Representative Battles, Hibari had felt like he had felt the worst pain in his life.

Trust fate to fuck him up and throw him some more.

"AAAAAAGH!" he yelled, startling Kusakabe who was still in a conversation with Reborn, sending in reports and developments on the prefect's condition.

"Iinchou!" he screamed just as Hibari finally passed out.

Two weeks later, he woke up furious, and stormed the town looking for herbivores to bite to death, all the while feeling his heart throbbing in pain.

Faded memories remained in his mind.

* * *

Hibari was in the underground base of the Foundation, mindlessly sorting out papers regarding the latest developments of Namimori when Reborn came in, looking uncharacteristically grim.

"Hibari," the hit man started.

Said man stared blankly at the now five-year old looking hit man in a fedora, his hand pausing their job before resuming not even a minute later.

"What brings you here, Baby?" Hibari felt a headache coming. He ignored it, the same way he ignored the hand sawing against his usually steel heart.

"You know why I'm here, Hibari. Tell me what happened two weeks ago," Reborn said in a no-nonsense tone.

Hibari scoffed. "Don't you know it already?"

Reborn did. But there were gaps in his knowledge.

He didn't like gaps in his knowledge.

"Tsuna went through the same thing."

That stilled Hibari's hand. So the omnivore was related to this?

Hibari didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Of course, why didn't he think of that? Wasn't every single disruption in his peace often connected to the small animal?

Still sporting a blank face, Hibari faced the most dangerous child in the world. "So, do you know what caused it?"

Reborn pulled the front of his fedora, sending a shadow over his face. "I have a hunch, but it's not concrete yet. I still need information."

Information Hibari had.

Hibari's eyes steeled. "Let me tell you then. Two weeks ago, I felt the worst pain I've ever felt in my entire life."

The raven-haired prefect recounted the events that happened, his weird dream, the faded memories that flashed in his mind, the pain, the dead people, and the woman. He laid out everything for the baby to hear, unable to stop himself and the painful thug pulling at his heart.

Always. The. Fucking. Heart.

He had never felt so…human.

By the time he was done, Reborn was gaping and his gray eyes were wet with tears.

Hibari had lived most of his life alone, surviving through sheer instinct. It was part of the reason he was so divorced from his emotions, he hardly felt anything aside from anger, irritation, quiet and anticipation. He lived through fighting, gaining strength, relying entirely upon himself, and while he knew there were people much stronger than him, he wouldn't ever acknowledge himself as weak. Or weaker. Than anyone.

He was strong. Anyone who doubt that would be bitten to death.

Thoroughly.

Hibari was also smart. He learned languages easily, and he was good at business and leadership with years of experience practically ruling Namimori. He didn't go to school because he had low academic grades.

He just didn't need it.

Unknown to most people, Hibari enjoyed Science. No, not just Biology. The entirety of it. Knowledge is also a strength he recognized, that was why he respected scientists and teachers, although just barely. They would still be bitten to death if they crossed him. Still, he liked Science, and he's good at it. Maybe not as good as the four-eyed red-head or the lazy blonde with the lollipop, or the annoying green baby, but he was good enough.

He had an open mind, and knew there were probably a lot of things in the world he wouldn't understand—the Vongola Ring, for example. All the hype with the ancestors and inheritance didn't really matter to him, and as far as he was concerned, a good fight always solved everything. There was also that omnivore who liked to disrupt his peace, and acted so fucking herbivorous on a daily basis, but had the ability to possibly take on the world given the right circumstances.

He'd seen it firsthand.

With the pineapple-head herbivore. The scar-faced herbivore, always in a fucking throne. The marshmallow idiot. The other small animal. The other freaky pineapple. The undead bastards.

Sawada Tsunayoshi was, Hibari acknowledged, strong. Incredibly so. But Hibari didn't understand why he wouldn't use his strength more often. Assassins were perpetually after his head, but someone else always had to save him.

Sawada Tsunayoshi confused Hibari.

That was why he stuck around.

He still disliked crowding, though.

* * *

Reborn called for a meeting. Everyone in Tsuna's immediate family was called, sans Nana. The topic was Tsuna and Hibari's coma.

When he said this, everyone except Kusakabe was surprised.

"Hibari was in a coma too?" Yamamoto voiced. The others merely frowned while Hibari knocked out Ryohei for trying to touch him and being loud.

There was chaos for a second before Hibari growled and took his flames out. No one said he had patience by his side.

The discussion pushed forward.

"Yes, Iinchou was in a coma, too," Kusakabe said. "Right about the same time Sawada-san did, I think. He had a fever for a while before he passed out. He woke up only the other day."

"The same time as Tenth," Gokudera muttered, his genius brain seeing the obvious connection. "Was he attacked?"

Kusakabe shook his head. "No, he just had a fever. And then passed out. We didn't find any traces of struggle or any sign of a fight."

"Tsuna did too. We checked the camera footage, and he was all alone when he passed out, he was muttering something for a while, and then he's just asleep. Nothing was wrong with his body either. He's perfectly healthy," Reborn said.

Gokudera frowned, "So, what do you think is it Reborn-san?"

A bit of silence, and then, "Hibari, didn't you say you had a dream?"

"Hn," Hibari nodded.

"Was it about the first Cloud Guardian?"

Hibari pursed his lips. "I don't know. Someone called Alaude."

"Alaude is the first Cloud Guardian, teme," Gokudera supplied.

Hibari merely shrugged.

Gokudera seethed.

"Maa," Yamamoto said. Facing Reborn with uncharacteristic seriousness, he said, "So, what is it kid? Do you know what happened?"

All eyes turned expectantly on the World's Greatest Hit Man.

"…Do any of you know a woman called Serenita?"

"…"

"She's the founder of Vongola."

1… 2… 3…

"What?"

"Isn't Primo the founder of Vongola?"

"Who's Serenit—haa?"

"What does that mean to the extreme?!"

"Reborn, this is no time to be joking!"

Bam. A hand pounded on the table. Hibari narrowed his eyes on Reborn. "What are you saying, akanbou?"

Reborn sighed. "I asked Nono. He said during his mother's time, they found a hidden room in the Vongola Headquarters. As you know, Vongola Headquarters is a Castle more than five hundred years old. Even now, not all of it has been unearthed yet, and there are still quite a few secret rooms and passages here and there. During Ottavo's reign, they found a room no one has entered before, in a hidden part of the castle.

It was apparently been shielded by illusions, but during one siege in a war against one enemy family, the illusion was dispelled and they found it: Primo's Room, which no one has ever seen before. Honestly, it was quite bare. The only thing they found was a journal, and a couple of bloodstained wedding rin—"

Everyone looked as Hibari flopped down on a chair like a limp vegetable, eyes looking dazed.

Reborn bit his lip. "Let's leave him for now," he said, and ushered everyone out of the room.

"Why? What's happening?"

"He's just remembering."

 _Blood. Blood. Blood everywhere._

 _Alaude walked down the aisle, to where a bloodied woman stood, her white dress stained red with the blood of her husband._

 _"_ _Serenita…" he said, reaching around her and tucking her head against his chin, whispering her name over and over. "Serenita…"_

 _Blood and tears fell down their cheeks, and behind her the image of a man nailed to a cross watched them with sad eyes._

 _"_ _Serenita…"_

 _Let's go home._


	4. Of Blood and Peace

**_Oya, early update. Tell me what you think!_**

 **This is kind of...uh, depressing. I think? I hope I did well. Mind telling me if there's anything wrong, or confusing about it?**

* * *

 _"_ _Do you love me?"_

 _"_ _With all my heart?"_

 _"_ _Even in the next life?"_

 _"_ _Even then."_

 _"…_ _What if I don't love you then?"_

 _A smile. "Don't worry, you will."_

 _"_ _How are you so sure?"_

 _"_ _Because we've been through this before, and we always find our way to each other."_

 _"_ _Don't we always die?"_

 _"_ _Yes, yes we do. But I'll never regret being born, over and over, if only to see your smile for a second."_

* * *

Of Blood and Peace

While Hibari was dreaming of a very distant past—for the second time—eyes glazed and unseeing, Tsuna was living the life of a woman with amber eyes, meeting the man who would bring both light and darkness to her world.

She had grime on her skin and grease on her hair, seeing the tall handsome, young boy in an overly large coat, holding a gun and a handcuff in each hand.

He smelled like blood.

* * *

 **Serenita's Journal**

 **First Entry**

 **Sometime in the Distant Past**

 _The day I met you, I saw death for the first time._

 _In the streets of Eastern Italy, two Mafia Famiglias were crossing guns and swords, scattering bullets and knives everywhere over a petty reason. A beautiful woman, who was wife of another and mistress of the other one, who didn't even know herself who the father of her own child was._

 _A child who would most likely live a life of disgrace, anyway._

 _Society is cruel, even to small children._

 _I was but an orphan, kicked out of the orphanage for being too old, alongside my friend whose temper knew no bounds, but was loyal and faithful and wonderful, but really, really troublesome at times. We steal money from old, posh-looking ladies for food, taking on odd jobs here and there. Our home was a small alley infested by rats, our bed made up of tattered cloths taken from some nobleman's backyard._

 _Even so, I love life. The brightness of the day, the calmness of the wind, the sun, the rain… Small miracles like fires, and shooting stars, and despite its over-all darkness, I love humans too._

 _The occasional soft glances from the local baker, before it was replaced by a steely glare. The rare smiles from the Police Officers, who did honestly try to keep the peace, despite their powerlessness. The gifts from the old priest at the church, always praying for the good of everyone._

 _And your smile._

 _You were bloodied from head to toe, covered in bullet wounds, leaning weakly against the wall beside our 'home'. In your hands was a gun, and a metal handcuff, clutched against your chest as you desperately press against the wounds, trying to ebb the blood flow._

 _It was hopeless._

 _You were dying._

 _There was pain in my chest, and my stomach as I fought off nausea caused by the awful smell of your blood, coupled with gunpowder, sweat and soil, along with a hint of water lilies. There was a tremble in my frame as I approached, fearful and cautious and sad, reaching a hand to touch your cold face covered by a warm red liquid._

 _Blood. Blood. Blood._

 _You were dying, and then you smiled. Far longer than anyone has ever smiled at me…me, who didn't even have a name of my own. No parents or fortune to speak of, just a single friend who was always on the verge of death trying to survive every day. Me, who no one wanted._

 _You smiled, and my heart hurt so much, because you're so beautiful. More beautiful than the sunset. More fascinating than the stars. Much brighter than the sun._

 _You smiled, and you were dying, dying… your life passing before my very eyes, so fleeting, so fragile, so thin…_

 _And I cried out for you, just as you called out for peace, serenity, closing your eyes slowly, a smile still upon your red, red lips…_

 _And then there was a flash of yellow light._

 _A flame._

 _I burned, and I caught your soul from the grasp of death._

 _And you told me you were grateful, but you never did smile like that again, did you?_

 _You died, and I brought you back to life, and did you… did you hate me for that?_

* * *

"So, Reborn-san," Gokudera said tentatively, noting the dark mood of the hit man. "What did you mean when you said Primo was…Primo was..."

"Primo was a woman," was the swift answer. Gokudera flinched. This was all so confusing. "According to the journal, which Nono sent to me two days ago—a copy, of course, Nono is a sentimental idiot when it comes to family heirlooms—Primo was a woman called Serenita, a name given to her by Alaude himself during their first meeting.

As you know, during that time, being a woman was quite hard, since there was hardly anything they were allowed to do besides getting married and getting pregnant. Primo, being an orphan, had even less choices to do in her life, so she disguised herself as a man, cut her hair and all that, and, with the help of G, Cozart and Alaude, founded Vongola."

"But why—"

"Her reasons were unclear, but she truly did have some sort of vigilante tendency. Alaude, as an officer himself with a huge deal of sense of justice, or so it seems, assisted her, after she saved his life with her flames. Dying will flames are the physical manifestation of ones will, and, whilst in dying will mode—as you all know—a person is pretty much capable of doing anything. You've all seen Tsuna.

There has been a lot of instances like that in history, but I assume Primo's will had to be incredibly strong—wanting to save Alaude, that is—in order for her to pull that feat, considering their medical knowledge was far from what we have now. As the journal said, Alaude was dying.

Unless she was exaggerating, which was rather likely considering the way she wrote—like a freaking poet—although I doubt she was the type to lie about something like that. We'd just have to wait and see."

"And, what does this have to do with—"

A gunshot.

"…"

"Half of the journal was ruined, burned, so we don't know exactly what happened, but it seemed Alaude and Serenita had been lovers. They both claimed to be soul mates of each other, apparently. There was something there about souls and cycle, and every other page contained either life, or death, or both. I'm guessing their love story didn't end well, considering they're pestering us in the present."

"What?"

Reborn looked at the gaping mouths of the guardians, sans Hibari, along with Dino and Bianchi. They all had disbelieving looks on their faces. Sasagawa Ryohei had a million question marks painted on his, Reborn doubted he understood o word of what he said. Gokudera was working it out slowly, but he was still confused. Yamamoto was keeping quiet.

Reborn felt a migraine coming.

He felt the urge to blow some holes from their foreheads.

 _Idiots._ "I'm saying, Hibari and Tsuna are experiencing flashbacks of their past selves."

"…"

"Why?"

A sigh. "I have no idea." And he pulled a shot, barely missing Dino, who tripped and fell on his face, just for the heck of it.

Ah. Dame-Tsuna was too much work.

* * *

Hibari felt warm lips against his the moment he regained his conscious. He opened his eyes and was met with a pair of warm brown orbs, twinkling against the sunlight filtering through the illusionary windows. There was a moment of pause, and then the brown eyes pulled away, revealing a face he knew well.

 _Too well._

Feeling oddly calm, and not quite Hibari Kyouya, he spoke in a language that was as familiar to his mind as it was to his tongue.

"What are you doing…Serenita?"

Brown eyes blinked, showing confusion. The girl—boy—opened his mouth, only to gasp out loud and clutch her—his—head, as though in pain. Hibari looked at her—him—with half-lidded eyes, not quite understanding the depth of which he had broken the boy's mind, who was struggling, struggling against something, _someone._

"I'm not—I'm not—what? What's happening? What's happening to me?! Why?!" And the boy crumpled against the floor, holding his face as though ashamed, or scared…terrified.

Hibari frowned. Why was he so terrified?

"Aren't you—aren't you Serenita?" Hibari—Alaude—asked.

And Serenita—Tsuna—shook his head and nodded, not quite sure himself—herself.

Who was he?

Who was she?

There were two people in his mind…

…and they were fighting.

"And you? Who are you?" The boy—girl—asked, eyes flickering between amber and hazel, between girl and boy, young and old.

Hibari—Alaude—opened his mouth…

…just as the door broke into splinters.

"VOOOOOIII! Damn mini-boss! We've come to take you to the homeland!"

Everyone felt the tremor. They ran. Left, right to the conference room. Hibari was there. He was defenseless at the moment, was what they thought. They heard the obnoxious voices of the supposed best assassination squad in the whole of underground. A crash, and then…

"What happened here?"

Hibari—Alaude—stood over bloody mangled bodies.

He looked at the newest additions to the room. Held out his bloodied handcuffs. Smiled devilishly.

"Clean up the herbivores, will you?" he said to no one in particular. And then, before any of them could move, he was hauling a limp Tsuna off the floor and ran past them.

Fleeting, like a wispy cloud on a windy day.

* * *

 _"_ _Why would you marry someone you've only just met?" was the accusing yell. This, coming from a normally stoic and seemingly unfeeling man, was enough to send Serenita to tears._

 _She could feel his pain as though it was her own. The betrayal, the jealousy, the envy. Because she was his and now she was offering herself to another._

 _But, "It has to be done," was her only answer. It was the only reason._

 _And then there was black in his steel blue eyes. "I'll kill him," he declared and left._

 _And she wept and wept because she knew he wouldn't, he couldn't, and there was nothing else to do._

 _In this life, they were meant for pain too._

 _Meeting each other and falling in love, only to be forced apart in the end._

 _It was unreasonable, incorrigible, and why,_ why couldn't we just be together? _Without the world pulling out our hearts and crushing it beneath its toes?_

 _Why were we even alive?_


	5. How Do I Call You?

**Yo. This is a, kinda, short chapter. Although almost every one of the chapters are.**

 **I hope you enjoy this.**

 **Once again, if there are any confusions, please do tell me and I'll try to fix it.**

 **Just...putting it out there, I don't have any editors and I'm the laziest person in the world so none of my stories actually go through any process. So, any input from you guys are extremely appreciated.**

* * *

 _Name. Names. Name._

 _What are those?_

 _Will that tell me who I am?_

 _Between Tsuna, Serenita, Giotto, Ieyasu and a million others…which one am I?_

 _Or am I each one?_

* * *

How Do I Call You?

The _best_ and _brightest_ assassins in the world of Mafia, down on the floor, wounds pouring blood…all in the span of—what? A few seconds? A few minutes? Everyone knew—even if they didn't particularly acknowledge it—that Hibari Kyoya was the strongest out of all the Guardians of the Sky. However, no matter how strong he was, Reborn was sure he wouldn't win against Xanxus.

An all-out fight against Squalo would be taxing enough, but to leave not just the silver-haired man, but _everyone_ else half-dead without a hair out of place…

There was something Reborn was missing.

He didn't like it.

And that overwhelming air of power, the sheer confidence and arrogance the Cloud Guardian showed before he left… _what the hell happened while they were gone?_

"Was that—" Yamamoto, mouth hanging open, pointed to the direction Hibari flew towards"—really Hibari?" He glanced at the bloodied mess on the floor. In a whisper, he said, "Did he—did he do this?"

"Possibly," Reborn mused. Everyone else was too shocked to respond.

"What the hell?" Gokudera, coming out of stupor, yelled out.

 _And, yes,_ Reborn thought, _what the hell indeed._ But this was no time to be standing around. "Move your asses this instant, idiots. We need to get these half-dead idiots before they cross to the other side."

"How about Tsuna?" _Will he be fine?_

Reborn sighed internally. Once this was done, his dame student had better be prepared. "I'll go after them. None of you would be a match against Hibari in this state, and we don't need any more injured. Take care of these idiots and notify the Ninth. This seems more dangerous than we first thought."

* * *

It happened really, really fast. One moment, Tsuna—or whoever he/she was—was going through some tough identity crisis, the next he was being swept off his feet by a devilish Hibari right after attacking the Varia.

Belphegor didn't even have the chance to laugh.

Now, the two of them were in Hibari's favorite place: Nami-chuu's rooftop.

Tsuna was slowly set down. His head was still hurting, and he's still not quite sure what his—or her—own name was. But he—she—knew one thing.

The dark-haired man in front of him was someone he could trust with his life.

"How do I call you?" the man asked.

"I—" Tsuna shook his head. "I don't know. How do I call you?"

The man smiled, gently, not like the dark smirk he sent Reborn and co. back at the base. "At the moment, you may call me Alaude. Kyoya is a bit overwhelmed right now, and he's going to be asleep for a while until such a time when he and I could synchronize."

"Syn—synchro—what?" Tsuna said dumbly. He felt inebriated, even though he hadn't drunk any alcoholic beverage even once in his life.

Or, had he? He didn't know anymore. He had memories of drinking wine of all kinds, in parties and balls and meetings—but they all seemed so, so far away.

The man—Alaude, Alaude, _Alaude—_ kept his smile. "Synchronized. It's when each of us accept the other, and we become the same person. It's the same with you. Once you accept _her_ ¸ you'll stop being confused."

Ah, that sounded nice. "And the pain?" Tsuna asked, holding his hand against his aching chest. It hasn't stopped throbbing since he woke up.

Alaude looked up. When he met Tsuna's eyes once more, his steel blue eyes were tinged with sadness. "I've never known life without pain, _mon amour_. I don't think I ever will."

"Oh." A deep breath. "Are you in pain?"

A bitter smile. "Always."

* * *

 _"_ _Do you remember the first time?" Serenita asked, looking at the bright blue sky, head against her lover's broad shoulder._

 _"_ _Hmm?" was the reply._

 _"…_ _Our first life, I mean. When was it?"_

 _A beat. "I don't recall. I reckon it was way, way back."_

 _"_ _Do you think we did something unforgivable then? Are we being punished? "_

 _"…"_

 _"_ _I just…I remember being Margarette when you were Alfred, back in Old Saxon. I was a barmaid while you were a young lord, beloved by everyone. No one had expected you to fall in love with me, and when you did…everyone disagreed."_

 _A wistful, bitter smile. "We defied them. I still married you."_

 _One drop of tear against porcelain skin. "Yes. And they killed you."_ And I followed you to death, but not even death allowed us to be together.

* * *

"Why are you in pain?" _Why am I in pain?_

A warm, callused hand reached out to touch Tsuna's skin. It touched wet tears. "Because the world is unfair. It always takes you away from me."

"Always?"

"Yes, always."

"…Then, you know who I am?"

 _At first he was wary. He took out his gun and nearly shot the golden-haired man who emerged from where he knew his beloved was in, alone and defenseless and possibly naked. But then he noticed amber eyes and brilliant smile, pale skin and a ring—his ring, which he gave her for her twentieth birthday just last month._

 _"—_ _Serenita?"_

 _An all-too-familiar giggle. "Fooled you, didn't I?"_

 _"_ _W—why are you—"_

 _"_ _I'm going by Giotto now." An outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you, my soul mate."_

"Yes, I know who you are."

"Then, will you tell me? W-who am I?"

Steel blue against warm brown. One calm, collected and unmistakably broken. The other clouded, scared and confused.

Alaude forced his tears back. He still remembered the time, generations ago, when he had a woman whose face was so much like this boy in front of him in his arms, her blood seeping through her clothes, touching his skin. He remembered hidden moments in dark hallways, secret rendezvous beneath the moonlight, kisses that lasted too short, too much…so little time.

Oh, he knew this boy. He knew him possibly more than he knew himself.

Even when he's dead.

"You are—"

"Dame-Tsuna, that's who you are. Tenth Generation Boss of the Vongola, great-great-great grandson of Sawada Ieyasu, also known as Giotto—or Serenita, whatever—and a dame-student who fails in everything he does. That's who you are. It doesn't matter what kind of memories are pushed into you, you are, and always will be, Dame-Tsuna.

Now, mind telling me what's happening, and why we just found the top assassins in the world lying in a pool of blood minutes ago?"

"Re—Reborn!" Brown eyes widen at the sight of a fedora wearing young child with a green gun leaning against the open entrance to the rooftop.

All of a sudden, Tsuna's mind was cleared, and he wasn't Serenita, Giotto or Margarette anymore.

He was Tsuna. Dame-Tsuna.

And, as he stepped back in fear, apprehension or whatever, of course he had to trip on his own feet.

Alaude caught her—no, him!—and there was a fleeting sense of déjà vu before it was replace by bone-crushing fear at the sight of his second most feared person—next to the first one—who was holding him in his arms like he was something, fragile and important.

And then the pain in his heart came rushing back, at the look in his steel blue eyes when he pushed him away and stood up.

Tsuna thought maybe he could understand what he said: The feeling of always being in pain.

He knew it wasn't anything physical.

And frankly, he would've have chosen being trampled over by a berserk Roll and a furious Xanxus anytime over this.

A few broken bones could always be fixed. A few organs could always be replaced.

But a broken soul…

How was he supposed to fix that?

"So, uh, how do I call you?" he asked again, unsure.

Reborn frowned at this, but said nothing. The man merely smiled yet another broken smile that made Tsuna want to go and crush him in a hug, comfort him, do anything…

Tsuna kept still.

The man said, "Call me whatever you want. Names never hold much meaning to me. I am who I am, you are who you are. Nothing else matters. Nothing."

* * *

 **Alaude's Letter**

 **Found between the pages of Serenita's Journal, First Page**

Translated From French

 _My Soul Mate,_

 _I'd call you by your name, but as you have so many, I couldn't decide which to use and thus decided to merely address this to the one identity you will always be—in any time, and in any world: The holder of half of my soul._

 _In this life, we first met when you saved me from the grasps of death and I gave you your first official name. Serenita. I called you that because in those moments, where I was having a fight with myself, clinging to all my regrets, the look on your face managed to calm down my screaming soul, just as though I came home._

 _I never had a home before you came to my life, and for that I am grateful._

 _I recall those moments in my dreams frequently, when you held my face with your tiny hands, looking as though you were about to cry. I was but a stranger then, but you put your heart into saving me, and save me you did. From then on, I had sworn to follow you forever._

 _My life is yours. So is my heart, whose ice you had thawed, melted and warmed up. It's now pounding ceaselessly inside my chest, calling for you._

 _I know the world isn't kind, but I'm still thankful to whoever is up there, for making our paths cross because to die without meeting you would've been the worst fate in the world._

 **Alaude is rather OOC, isn't he? Though, we don't really know much about him. Haha. He'll be more of a lovesick fool here, so look out for that.**


	6. What Now?

**I'm really sorry for the extremely late updates. It's just...I've been having troubles with life, internet, and life these past few months. I'm not sure when i can update any of my stories but I'll try my best not to make it longer than a year. Really.**

 _What is beyond life?_

 _W e've died countless times, but we never actually left, did we?_

 _We only jumped from one hell to the next._

 _Or maybe it really is heaven._

 _We just can't tell._

Synchronicity

A few hundred feet underground, nine people faced each other in a circular conference table, faces looking different shades of grim, with the exception of one Hibari Kyoya—who was wearing a wry smile—and Reborn, who had an expression between amused and irritated. Sawada Tsunayoshi—in mind, heart and body—was sitting at the head with pursed lips, brows furrowed, and hunched shoulders. Every bit the image of a confused soul.

Alaude— _Hibari_ , he reminded himself, _he was Hibari now_ —looked at him, _his soul mate, his, his,_ and felt the familiar sting in his chest. Seeing him, _her face_ , after so long, _too long_ , was making him…feel things. Bad things. Good things. All kinds of things. He didn't even know. He couldn't tell.

It was just…bliss and torture at the same time.

He could feel Kyoya blinking awake in the depths of his mind. The boy was still so confused, pretty much like Sere— _him._ This was different from the other times. Usually, their minds would 'synchronize' within a few hours of 'remembering'. The longest was about five hours. Alaude wasn't really sure why this time was different, but he could guess.

It was probably because they haven't found love yet.

Their love.

He had gone through Kyoya's memories and couldn't believe half of it. The boy was so…cold, and unfeeling. He was like a beast that held no regard to anything that didn't give him strength or challenge. He was extremely territorial, and unreasonably protective of Namimori, having no qualms against using violence even for the slightest offence. Alaude blanched in disgust at all the times he had hurt _her_. Or him.

It made him want to punish himself. But that would just be ridiculous.

All in all, the two of them—because they truly are two people at this time—were remarkably alike (cold and cruel and strong, _strong, strong_ ), but they were horribly _different_ at the one thing that mattered.

For Hibari Kyoya, Sawada Tsunayoshi was at once interesting and annoying. He was a prey Hibari was grooming, strengthening, protecting, so that one day he could _bite him to death._

For Alaude, Serenita—Tsuna—was the world itself. She was _everything._

Unless the two of them saw eye to eye in that regard, they will forever be two hearts in one soul.

Alaude wasn't quite sure what that meant, but at the moment he had more important things to do.

He took a deep breath and started the discussion that they were all waiting to have. "If you have questions, now is the time to ask. Kyoya would be waking up soon, and I don't think you would want to be in the same room once he does."

 _Unless you want your blood to be drawn out of you slowly_ , he thought darkly.

Reborn was the first to open his mouth. "Who are you, and what do you mean about Hibari waking up?"

"Hmm, how straightforward," Alaude mused, looking over Reborn with predatory eyes which the hit man responded to in kind. Tension filled the air.

"Just answer the question." Black eyes flashed.

Alaude raised an impeccable eyebrow in amusement. "Alright, alright."

The Guardians and Dino couldn't help but shiver at this—this new Hibari who was acting like a messed up and scarier Yamamoto. Even his smile was giving them the creeps.

"I suppose it is fitting to start with an introduction. Very well," he said. "My name is Alaude. You know me as the First Generation Cloud Guardian, founder of CEDEF. You could say that I am your Cloud Guardian's reincarnation, although our circumstance is quite…different." He took a deep breath. Stared at Tsuna. "I am Serenita's other half." A bitter smile. "Though it appears she still hasn't woken up."

"You keep saying that. 'Waking up'. Does that mean Hibari, and this Serenita you speak of, are asleep?"

"That is one way of putting it. It's kind of hard to explain, but you can just think of it as a split personality, I guess. We are technically the same person, we have the same soul—Hibari and I, and Serenita and…Tsunayoshi. However, due to circumstances, Hibari and Tsunayoshi can't quite accept our memories, making us split up so as to avoid a complete destruction of the mind."

"What circumstances?" Gokudera asked, speculating. Yamamoto sweat-dropped at the silver-head's positively beaming face. He could only wonder what theories the genius had cooked up.

H ibari tapped a long, slim finger on the glass surface. "Hmm," he said, tilting his head so that his bangs fell to one side. More than half of the room tensed at the sudden surge of 'attractiveness' that seemed to flow out of the prefect. No one could really argue that Hibari was good-looking. If they were being honest with themselves, they'd realize that none of them were half as attractive as the prefect was. However, this attractiveness was more often than not downplayed by the outright monstrous aura the prefect releases at a regular basis.

S o, well, they were shocked.

Alaude noticed none of it though, still tapping softly on the cold table surface. "Your Hibari is plenty similar to myself in most aspects. We both value strength, hate crowds…" He looks at his face reflected on the black surface of the table. "…and look quite alike, if not exactly the same. Thinking this, shouldn't it be easy to assume we're just the same person?"

No one made a sound.

"If so," Alaude continued, "our memories should have easily became one in the same. Because we have been mostly acting the same in most situations. For example, if a person irritates me I beat them black and blue. He does the same, though his terminologies are…a bit unique." Everyone sweat dropped. "This isn't the case though, and we ended up fighting for dominance over this body. I won, mostly because the boy was so confused he couldn't even put up a decent fight if he wanted to. Thus, I have come to the conclusion that there must be something different between our core personalities and values."

"Well, Hibari isn't as calm as you."

Alaude smirked. "Give it time. I was much like him when I was living his age."

A tense silence.

"Have you found out…"Tsuna's soft voice flowed through the room, "what it is?"

Steel gray clashed with russet eyes. The way Alaude's face softened just a bit as he looked at Tsuna didn't escape any of them. "Well, for one, I love you." Someone gasped. "But Hibari Kyouya… You have merely earned a tiny bit of his respect, and not his adoration. That is the difference."

"So…you mean if Kyouya falls in love with Tsuna, it will solve everything?" Dino voiced out.

Alaude raised Hibari's immaculate eyebrow at Dino. Then he sneered. "Cavallone," he said, venom in his tone. Dino shuddered. Fortunately, the moment of hostility didn't last very long.

"Forgive me, I just remembered some...thing nasty."

"The answer to his question?" Reborn.

Alaude tapped lazily on the table. "Well, it won't solve everything, but it will make things easier for both of us. Although, for it to work—"he grinned at Tsuna"—Tsuna will have to be in love with Hibari, too."

" _Are you out of your mind? How could you have attacked the Don? Look what happened! The entire alliance is broken and we're very likely in war right at the moment! You know we do not have enough manpower to protect the town, much less win against a full-fledged Mafia Famiglia!" a golden-haired man whined, pacing inside an elaborate office which looked like it had been passed through by a huge storm. Each step he took, his shoes crunched on fallen documents that had been flung to the floor._

 _Another man stood aways from him, looking very much calm in spite of the looming predicament hanging by their heads. His clothes looked ruffled and bloodied, but not a single pale golden strand on his head seemed a bit out of place, and his face was that of lethargic relaxation._

 _He said, "I'll just kill them all."_

 _The other man gasped and froze in his tracks, turning sharply to glare at Alaude. "Are you hearing yourself? You're a police officer!"_

 _Alaude stared blankly._

" _Ugh! Alaude!" the golden man sank to his chair in disbelief, slapping his palms to his face loudly._

 _Alaude smirked, though it was tinged with a sadness. He stooped down to pick a piece of paper from the floor, crossed the room to place it on the table. He lifted his hand and reached halfway to the other's hair before hesitating and dropping it altogether. He sighed. "I don't know what you want me to say Gi-Giotto. You know me. You should have known what would happen when you sent me to that stronzo. He doesn't deserve to live."_

 _Giotto breathed out harshly. Gave him a withering look. "I had hoped you would have been able to control yourself for my sake. But clearly that is too much to ask."_

 _Alaude flinched, recoiled as though shot by an invisible bullet to the heart._

 _He looked down to his shivering hands, bunched to fists of steel capable of killing at the slightest touch._

 _He was not one to feel remorse. He was not one to be guilty of taking lives. He did what he had to do. He did what he felt was right. He had never used to doubt his sense of right or wrong._

 _He still didn't._

 _But that in itself may be the reason this man was so disappointed in him._

 _He had principles and a tiny bit of morals, but he had no conscience left. Nothing to tug at his heart when he stopped a person's heart from beating._

" _I'm sorry," he said in a broken whisper before walking away._

Serenita's Journal

 _Alaude, I love you._


End file.
